The present invention relates to an apparatus for twisting a string of wrapped and spun tobacco leaves, such as whole tobacco leaves, half tobacco leaves or parts of tobacco leaves and tobacco products such as homogenised tobacco products or alternative products originating from tobacco leaves or parts thereof, provided to the apparatus into a string of twisted tobacco leaves. Additionally, the invention relates to two variants of a device for wrapping a string of overlaid tobacco leaves into a string of wrapped and spun tobacco leaves. Moreover, the invention relates to a system. Further, the present invention relates to a method of producing a string of twisted tobacco leaves.
The production of spun twisted tobacco leaves in the form of spun twisted tobacco leaves is fundamentally based on old craftsmanship traditions, and the small pieces of tobacco are still in some places twisted by hand as they were back in 1805. The end products e.g. are small, discreet mini-rolls of tobacco or tobacco pellets with a natural nicotine content that soothes the urge to smoke. The mini-rolls may be delivered in a box typically vacuum packed to ensure a shelf life of one year.
Twisted tobacco as smokeless tobacco has a positive environmental effect, due to the fact that it often replaces traditionally smoked tobacco. For twisted tobacco the taste and the release of nicotine lasts for at least one hour, thus far fewer pellets will be used in a day as compared to smoking cigarettes.
Internationally, the term “smokeless tobacco” applies to a wide range of products whose common feature is that they do not have to be consumed as opposed to other smoke tobacco products, and logically no smoke is the result making the smokeless tobacco environmental friendly and usable in areas, where smoking in the normal sense is prohibited by regulations enforced by the public authorities.
One of the most common forms of smokeless tobacco originating from Europe is spun twisted chewing tobacco made of whole or half tobacco leaves that are twisted into a strand and cut into small pieces. Other forms are snuff, which is dried, pulverised tobacco snuffed into the nose. Moist snuff is granulated tobacco mixed with water and is also used in the mouth. Alternatively portion-packed snuff is used, which is similar to moist snuff but is packed in small, porous bags—like tea bags—and is used in the mouth. The mentioned small, discreet mini-rolls are e.g. about 1×0.5 cm and have a natural nicotine content that quells the urge to smoke. The mini-roll is to be inserted between the cheek and the jaw. The tobacco mini-roll will give off taste and nicotine for at least one hour. The tobacco mini-roll is not be swallowed after use, but is discarded as a chewing gum.
The German Patentschrift 173122, dating back to 1905, discloses a process where the tobacco leaves are laid on a table and manually fed between rubber rollers. The result of the process is a loose, inhomogeneous twisted string of tobacco, which is unsuitable for further processing, e.g. for cutting or slicing into e.g. tobacco mini-rolls.
From GB 226,026, accepted for grant back in 1924, a method of manufacturing tobacco in twist or roll form is known. The machine utilises a complicated set up of mechanical parts such as feeding rolls, cams, gear wheels, etc and is manually operated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,287 discloses a method of making a smoking article where a sheet of reconstituted tobacco is manually or machine folded into a substantially flat strip of tobacco, thus no string of twisted tobacco leaves is provided.
However, the technique of manufacturing twisted tobacco prior to separating e.g. slicing or cutting the twisted tobacco, typically from a string, into e.g. a mini-roll is as discussed primarily based on old, manually based craftsmanship traditions. This is also reflected in GB 226,026 and the German Patentschrift 173122. Thus, an automated, quick, efficient, adjustable and reliable apparatus, system and method for providing the string of twisted tobacco are needed by the smoke-less industry.